Known turn-around devices of the above type normally comprise an input conveyor operating in a first given direction and in a given travelling plane; and a toothed turn-around wheel rotating about an axis perpendicular to said travelling plane, and which engages the packets laterally and moves them, in the travelling plane, into a second direction normally crosswise to the first direction.
Turn-around devices of the above type have several drawbacks, mainly due to the fact that, as a tooth on the turn-around wheel strikes the side of a packet on the input conveyor, the packet is accelerated sharply crosswise, and not only has a tendency to be damaged by the relatively severe stress to which it is subjected, but is also detached by inertia from the relative tooth on the turn-around wheel, which thus loses position control of the packet, so that braking devices are required to bring the turned-around packets back under control.